Vitriol
by Ailish Oriana
Summary: She was charged with fury. Long gone were the days when she used to pine after him. This time, the roles had been reversed. HIATUS
1. Prologue

_**Vitriol**_

_**A/N; **_This is the _revised_ prologue of the story. Please read and let me know what you think. Any suggestions/opinions/grammatical and spelling mistakes (which I'm sure you will find many of, unfortunately);  
**Please review!**

******Disclaimer; **I do not own Naruto. All credits to Masashi Kishimoto.

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_**Prologue**_

She was drenched to the skin. Cold and shivering, the rain pounded down hard on her body, like a bombshell, as if punishing her for her folly. She gritted her teeth and ignored the taste of blood on her mouth. She knew what she had to do—she also knew the consequences for she had memorised that part,

"_Fatigue ... immobility ... perhaps unconsciousness."_

But this was her foible; her rigorous, almost niggling way of thinking. The time had come for her to be spontaneous. After all, she had nothing to lose. Already, she had failed, the upshot of which had been the capture of her comrades. The worst that could happen was that she would be captured too. Surely, it was a better prospect than returning alone and announcing her failure.

With that thought, she bended and twisted her hands into the complex signs she had spent hours memorising, sometimes even living on a diet of sleepless nights to do so. And yet, here was another hitch on her part; she had practised this jutsu only once in her life before, but it's effect had lasted a meagre hour instead of the official three hours Tsunade had promised. She hadn't mastered this ability. However there was no time to dwell on that matter. If she wished to save her comrades, this was her only chance.

Nonetheless, it was only after she felt the familiar rush of adrenaline sweep within her- burning her insides; an inferno, resulting in an energy that she had experienced only once before that scorched the very tips of her fingers and toes and made her, supposedly, invincible— that her worries were swept away.

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**A/N; **As you are most likely, already aware, i made this jutsu up. Duh!  
_Reviews are awesome!_ Agreed? Then go ahead, review... whats stopping you? =)


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Karin had been running for hours, noisily tumbling and clambering over bushy trees and all the while muttering darkly. She knew that she was making a regrettable mistake; never do anything that can forewarn other ninjas about your arrival.

"_But so what?"_ she thought bitterly, 'Saskue Kun' didn't care about her anyway, she might as well be dead. Despite her efforts, Saskue's sepulchral voice reverberated in her ears, making her eyes itch.

"_Go make yourself useful." _

And here she was; entrusted with a trivial task of a messenger, a scroll clutched in her hands. As if she wasn't worth a more significant task. She often wondered why she was part of Saskue's team, Hebi ; presumably, she was a pawn in his plan, soon to be be flung aside like trash after he had exploited her. Yes, she was almost sure of it, but that didn't stop her from clinging on to him.

Suddenly, with no warning, her bitter thoughts were interrupted. She stopped, still and silent, consternation trickling through her.

"_What ... What is this power? This energy..."_

Before she could activate the mind's eye of the Kagura however, the energy was suppressed, almost controlled. Yet she stood there, contemplating her next move. She had a disturbing suspicion that she was being watched. She braced herself. Her hands edging within her pouch, grabbing the very first thing she could get her hands on. With a graceful pirouette like movement, that was meant to impress more than anything- who knew, maybe the person watching her was a man- she whirled around.

A slash across her chin, a gasp of surprise and pain that was forced out of her, accompanied by a flash of vibrant, astonishing pink was enough to inform her that she wasn't going to encounter a man after all- a feast denied.

O**.**O

Sakura's attack had been on impulse. She'd swung her kunai wildly in the direction of the sudden noise; being unable to control the effect of the jutsu she was aware that she'd blown up her cover. She was feeling more and more agitated. Time was trickling away, her comrades had probably been hauled to the sound village by now, and maybe it was too late to help them now.

Gingerly, she stepped forward. Her green eyes encountered red ones, hidden behind spectacles and a dart of comprehension shot through her.

"You just won't give up, will you?' spat Karin, "He's never coming back! Nothing you say or do will make him think otherwise."

"Who said we were going to let him choose what to do?" Sakura couldn't resist adding.

"Force him, will you? Right, like that's ever worked before. And besides I doubt whether you alone can do anything. Always need somebody by your side, don't you? Say, where's your loud mouthed protector today?"

"I'm not here for him today" Sakura admitted grudgingly.

"You're not?" a malicious grin splashed across Karin's face.

Her bitter thoughts seemed to be dwindling away and she felt roused up, itching for a showdown. She had never seen Sakura fight before; in fact the energy she had felt a few minutes ago was the only indication of her abilities. Nonetheless, Karin felt confident that her skills were no match for the medic ninja. Without warning she pounced, trusting her kunai she had located earlier from her pouch to be enough for the ensuing skirmish she was hoping for. To her dismay, her kunai connected with thin air; Sakura had twisted out of harm's way. Karin swivelled around promptly, ensuring that her back was not left unprotected; sure enough, Sakura was hunched at a tree top in front of her. After an infinitesimal pause, in which she dimly acknowledged her opponent's speed, she let slip from her hands both the scroll and the kunai and deftly twisted her hands into the complex signs she had mastered.

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**A/N; **Special thanks to **_xxx myth master xxx, _**you know what you did! X) _Reviews _make the world brighter. I'm sure you all agree?


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